...and I didn't even have to stand on a street corner! Ok that was tasteless, but I earned $100 on Monday for joining a focus group - my first - for two hours. I am quite fond of the company that was using the focus group and apparently I am also very opinionated ;)
One of the ironies is that the company is in financial services and there were a lot of women in the group. All the women seemed bright and well educated and yet were very ambivalent about money and personal finance. They admitted to not knowing a lot, not being that interested and some even expressed guilt for those feelings. Interestingly they did all seem to be *more* interested by the end of the session, but I do wonder if that will last.
It really seemed that the women in the room just didn't know where to start. Articles on stocks and funds and PEG ratios OH MY! just didn't light the fire - which I totally understand. Some days it seems like Financial Services are from Mars and women are from Venus or something. I think more and more women are starting to realize they need a basic understanding of personal finance and yet don't always know where to start. Yet, financial services seem to have a history of catering to the already wealthy. I am interested to see how financial services companies craft products and marketing towards a burgeoning female market. And even more importantly I am eager to see women claim their financial power and dive in.
I don't have any answers, I just think that for the most part women have a different "relationship" to money. I have been reading about this in books such as Secrets of Six-Figure Women and Money, A Memoir and then it was right there in the room on Monday night.
Ladies, start your engines.
A different relationship to money is right!
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable memory of credit is this:
Wilma and Betty Flintstone running to the store screaming "CHARGE!".
Do you think that was a subliminal message for young impressionable little girls? LOL!!!
I wonder how much of this has to do with there just being so many things that compete for our time. If you have a job, a partner, children, friends, other activities, etc., learning about how to manage your money is bound to seem daunting just because it's one more thing to squeeze in. I always feel like I should learn more about how to pick good companies to buy stock in, but it just seems like there are too many details to keep track of and I end up saying forget it, I'll just buy another random mutual fund!
ReplyDeleteI have always been disinterested in money. As I got older, it kinda turned into a fear. Now that I'm determined to get my finances together, it's determination. But you are right, financial serviced cater to people who are already wealthy or could be easily wealthy with a few tweaks. I don't think there's much out there for those of us starting from scratch...
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